Stone & Vision Awards 2023

Entries are invited for the 2023 Stone & Vision Awards for photographs that promote discussion about stone and terrazzo within the built environment.

In association with

This photograph by architect David Valinsky was one of the winners from 2022. The photo is of Trinity Lane, Cambridge and is a ‘collage’ looking towards Clare College Chapel. All three buildings in the photograph (l,r,c) are built from the same Kettonstone, the setting sun sets the wall of the chapel on fire.

The Stone & Vision Awards is a photographic-based awards from the In Opera Group. One of the principal aims of the awards is to promote discussion about stone and terrazzo in the built environment. Importantly, the photos are all taken by architects and designers – the aim being to encourage a direct relationship between the material and the image.

The Awards are open to architects, landscape architects, interior designers and architecture students in the UK. The judges are interested in seeing how architects and designers engage with stone and terrazzo, and can be inspired and influenced by possibilities. In Opera Group is also interested in images that address sustainability and recycling and buildings that have been given a new lease of life.

Winners will be selected in three categories: commercial, landscape and private buildings. Visit the In Opera Group website for entry criteria.

The deadline for entries is 28 April 2023. Shortlisted images will be exhibited as printed A3 panels from 26 June – 14 July 2023 at The Building Centre, London. The winners will be announced at the Awards evening on 29 June 2023. Visit , Thursday 29th June 2023.

Photograph by Emma Flanagan, pH+ Architects

Meet the judges —
This year’s judging panel includes:

Phil Coffey founded Coffey Architects in 2005 to pursue a passion for architecture, natural light, and the environment. He is a hands-on studio leader and enjoys the process of building strong client relationships to deliver exceptional projects, both large and small that inspire and delight. Coffey’s involvement runs from design conception through to completion. He has led Coffey Architects to win numerous major design awards and recognitions. Coffey is a regular contributor to the debate on architecture and urbanism, including public speaking and written and broadcast commentary for press.

Born in Berlin, Amin Taha lived in Baghdad and Southend-on-Sea before moving to London. He is currently chairperson at Groupwork Employee Ownership Trust, teaches and lectures on architecture, has sat for seven years with the RIBA’s National and International Awards jury, and more recently joined the Sir John Soane Museum as a trustee. Groupwork’s Clerkenwell Close project, which features a quarry-finished limestone exoskeleton, was shortlisted for the RIBA’s 2021 Stirling Prize.

Timothy Soar started making architectural photographs on large-format film in the 1980’s. He has run photography workshops at his own studios in Cumbria and London, teaching large-format and digital techniques. He has been featured in numerous photography magazines and been a regular contributor to The Architects’ Journal and Architecture Today Magazine. He has photographed architecture from Seattle to Sydney and has worked with three Pritzker Prize winners, five Stirling Prize winners, seven RIBA Gold Medal winners and nine Stirling Prize nominees.

Harriet Bourne worked in fashion before studying landscape architecture. She worked in a number of practices before establishing her practice, BBUK, in 2002. From inception the practice has taken on a wide range of projects ranging from masterplanning and streetscape design guidance, residential and mixed use commercial schemes, public parks and open spaces through to educational buildings and private gardens. Since the studio’s inception BBUK have won many awards for their work including the Stirling Prize in 2019 for Goldsmith Street.

Katerina Dionysopoulou worked for Foster + Partners and Heatherwick Studio prior to co-founding Bureau de Change Architects with Billy Mavropoulos. The studio is a direct product of the founders’ upbringing, passions and experiences – combining the pragmatism and formality of their architectural training with a desire to bring a sense of theatre, playfulness and innovation to their work. Bureau de Change has won numerous awards from the FX Breakthrough Talent of the year 2016 to the Sunday Times Architect of the Year award 2019 and was most recently shortlisted for the RIBA Awards 2020. Katerina teaches at the Bartlett School of Architecture.

Photograph by Marcus Baron, Britannicus

About In Opera Group
The foundations of In Opera Group (IOG) were laid in the late 1960s in northern Italy – a region at the base of the Apuan Alps, known for its impressive marble quarries and other natural stones. The area sustains a community of stone manufacturers, factories and artisans. And, for the past 50 years, IOG has proudly represented some of the oldest establishments in the region.

Today, IOG comprise the largest factories and manufacturers in Italy, Portugal and the Balkan Peninsula. It is a leading specialist in terrazzo, porcelain and natural stone surfaces, as well as one of the largest suppliers in Great Britain.

The company has worked closely with the architects and firms in charge of major projects, such as Heathrow and Gatwick International Airports, Victoria & Albert Museum, Royal Academy of Arts and other iconic sites and buildings.